YAY a filler post!! You know you’re totally not bothered by this because it’s ad-free music I made to make you happy. I’ve been so caught up with school & work that I’ve been neglecting TB & everyone I normally interweb stalk. It’s not you, I promise, it’s just me & life. So, please enjoy this fun, slightly nostalgic, synth-pop-whatever playlist of fantastic vocals & upbeat tempos. & of course I had to include Lana Del Rey remixes because YAAAS QUEEEEN. Shut up. 😛

I wanted to get back into the swing of things by creating a massive amount of queued posts throughout July & August because I’ll be away on holiday. My family & I are going to Thailand for fun & then we’ll be joining MEMO–an amazing nonprofit organization aimed to help the underprivileged in developing countries–in Vietnam. I’m so incredibly excited to visit Thailand for the first time & also thrilled to visit Vietnam again (& for a good cause too!). The first time I went, I was 12 & absolutely hated it–mostly due to the company (or more like an individual jerk/bully)–which, formulated my negative perception of the country. But I’ll never forget how delicious the food was, although I think Southern California’s pho is better than the bowls I had in Vietnam. I’m now nearly a whole decade & a half older than I was when I visited Vietnam, so my mind is wide open to enjoy the nature & beauty of the country. Prepare your browser for massive amounts of pictures in 2 months, you guys. It’s going to be awesome. Thailand & Vietnam might not hold any records for having the world’s fastest bullet trains or the cleanest cities, but I think both countries are underrated holiday destinations. Although, Vietnam holds the record for the largest underground cave. In fact, it’s own forest & wildlife. You bet your bottom there’ll be a bunch of food pictures & YOU WILL ENJOY IT BECAUSE FOOD IS ART. CAPS LOCK. 📷🍜 In all seriousness, I really look forward to visiting the Motherland & helping those who desperately need aid. I was going to make a joke about running amongst my peeplz, but all humans, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual preference are my peeplz. We are all human & we’re all animals made of stardust. 🌠✨💫

Tell me all about your summer vacation plans or where you wish you could revisit or plan on visiting one day! Also, tell me what you think of the playlist. It’s okay if it’s not your jams, you’re wrong. Just kidding, to each their own!

Winter Wishes

“Winter Song” by Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michelson (this song might not be there even though it’s one of my favorites; 8Tracks is messing up big time with their strange SoundCloud integration)

“All My Bells Are Ringing” by Lenka

“The Christmas Song” by The Raveonettes

“Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” by Death Cab For Cutie

“She Whispers The Winter Snow” by The Autumns

“The Winter Song” by Eisley

“Driving Home For Christmas” by Chris Rea

“Last Christmas” by Jimmy Eat World

“My Baby Fell For Ol’ St. Nick” by Dada

“Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” by Jack Johnson

“Winter Song” by The Head & the Heart

“Little Saint Nick” by The Beach Boys

“White Christmas” by Michael Bublé

“Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” by Dean Martin

“Winter Wonderland” by Doris Day

“Santa Baby” by Eartha Kitt

“The Christmas Song” by Nat King Cole

“White Christmas” by Bing Crosby

“All I Want For Christmas Is You (So So Def Remix)” by Mariah Carey

Just in time for the festivities, I hope you enjoy this fourth installment of Musical Mondays, which features delightful holiday songs. I tried my very best to curate a mix that incorporates some of my favorite indie holiday songs & absolute classics with a fun ending featuring Mariah. With the exception of “O, Holy Night” by Sleeping At Last, nearly (removed it, oh well) all of these songs will not make you feel as though you’re sitting through a musical sermon on Jesus’s birth. Even if you don’t celebrate any winter holidays, this mix is still great to listen to any time of the year. That’s right, I still blast holiday music in the middle of May because I DO WHAT I WANT. If you’re a fan of the mix, be sure to follow me on 8Tracks & share it with your friends via Facebook or whatever else you kids are using these days.

I wanted to let y’all know that my new layout is almost, just almost ready & I’m very excited for it, but I still have tons of photos to edit–does it ever end??–& lots of things to tweak. Recipes & more gallery postings soon (pffttt but I know about 2 of you actually click through the gallery anyway). Happy Holidays!!

I have a test today, so I prepared a Musical Monday for all of you ahead of time. Mellifluous is the third mix I’ve made since I started Musical Mondays & is suitable for female audiences since, well, everyone who sings is a woman. It doesn’t mean a man can’t enjoy it, but it’s obvious that more likely than not, a woman would find this more appealing. This playlist features voices from contemporary female artists, with an upbeat start that transitions to a more mellow, sleepy half. It’s a great playlist for background noise while working, preparing for bed & falling asleep to it, or for one of those days you just feel like some easy listening. Hopefully this mix will help you discover new songs, artists, &/or genres so ladies, I hope you enjoy it.

Cloudburst is the second mix I put together for my ongoing filler series: Musical Mondays! This mix is much more upbeat than the last one, but not too progressive. This mix is great for background music while you search the internet, play video games, or walking to school. Each mix has its own theme & this mix’s theme is upbeat electro. I hope those that like the genres I drew from will like this mix. I’ve gotten some positive feedback from a few friends, so here’s to hoping it’s also your cup of tea. I annoyingly put it on “autoplay” since most people don’t click things I link like my videos, so now y’all can be annoyed with this mysterious palatable music seeping from your speakers until you figure out it’s because of me. Sorry, not sorry.

Musical Mondays are here & brand new on TB! Back in high school, I had this chunky external harddrive full of music I accumulated over the years with those massive CD mail-in-to-order deals in addition to my very tech savvy cousins burning me new albums from my favorite artists. If my friends weren’t over for the marvelous made-from-scratch cakes I made, they were over to play video games & to transfer my harddrive’s music over to theirs. A few of my friends would ask me to point them in the right direction for some new music to listen to & I always delivered whether it was heavy rock (think “screamo”), pop, or trance. Now with Spotify & the like, it’s so much easier to listen to a bunch of bands you’ve never heard of. This mix is a bit more personal because a human, me, put it together & not a fancy, often frighteningly accurate algorithm. Also, I get to be creative with the cover art!

This playlist is a calm & relaxing downtempo playlist that should help focus your brain less on stress & more on tranquility. It’s perfect for a 50 minute car ride, when you’re sitting around reading, having a night in, having dinner with friends, or just on as background noise while you surf the web. I hope that those of you who are into the genres I’ve packed into the playlist enjoy this mix. Not everyone enjoys tea the same way, so if you’re more into rap & hip-hop, you can check 8Tracks for mixes in that genre there.

I’m going to be busy studying this week, so I’m going to leave all of you with music in my absence. I’ll be back with recipes & more photos soon. Thanks for all of your feedback on the giveaway. That’ll happen soon, promise!